Free Me From My Burdens, That I May Finally Live
by icbiwf
Summary: Katniss Everdeen has spent her whole life living for the sake of others. Now events will lead her to try letting herself live a little. An optimistic summer, a misguided relationship, and pie. Lots and lots and lots of pie. Written for Prompts in Panem Round 4. Prompt: Gluttony.


Over the summer, things had finally started looking up for Katniss.

After struggling for so long to keep her family going after her father's untimely death, this summer she'd had reasons to feel optimistic for the first time in years. Her mother had progressed far enough in her therapy that she had been able to regain her nursing license. She was probably violating all sorts of conflict of interest guidelines by working hours at the same clinic where she received psychiatric treatment, but hey income was income. Katniss herself had turned eighteen and finished high school, and could finally work a real full-time job. Her position teaching activities at the Y wouldn't make her rich, but it was reliable. Yes her boss was a blackout drunk, but at least that meant he wasn't a micromanaging asshole like Seneca Crane, her old boss at the Kwik-n-Stop, had been. She got to spend most of her time at work doing swimming and archery classes, and she'd been able to add Prim to her employee insurance plan.

Things were going so well, in fact, that she had finally given in to Gale's frequent requests that they try dating each other. Gale had been her closest friend ever since they both lost their fathers in the same industrial accident, and once they got to high school he wanted to take their relationship further. She knew Gale was a good guy, she wouldn't have been such close friends with him if he wasn't. He was as dedicated to his family as she was to hers. And he was good looking, there was no denying that. But Katniss had never seen him as a romantic partner, so she had always declined him, saying that she had no interest in dating anyone, and that she couldn't be distracted from taking care of Prim.

But now things were changing. Now Prim was fourteen, not yet grown but old enough to take care of herself most of the time. Now her mother was in a place to be a real help. Now that she was just working instead of going to school and working, she had more time to devote to other pursuits. And, he insisted, how would she know whether she wanted to date him or not if she never tried it? Finally, at his birthday dinner in July, she had relented. For her best friend, she would give it a try.

They had been officially together for less than two months now, and in that time very little had changed in their relationship, really. They still hunted together, they still spent time together like they always had. Except now there was kissing.

The first time he had kissed her it had taken her completely by surprise, she had been too stunned to respond and too clueless to know how to. Eventually she had come to expect the kisses, though she had yet to be the one to initiate one. She didn't dislike the kissing, exactly. It was nice. Pleasant, even, sometimes. Once she overcame her initial uneasiness, she found comfort in the warm feeling of Gale's lips against hers. But she could tell that Gale enjoyed the kissing a lot more than she ever did. And he was alone in his desire for the kissing to lead to something more - the few times he'd tried to go further, she had quickly shut him down. She wasn't ready to do _that_ anytime soon, no matter that other girls had already done it by the time they were Prim's age.

What had truly changed since they started dating was Gale. He'd started treating her differently after they became a couple. The first time she noticed it had been on a hunting trip a couple of weeks ago. They spent hours in the woods, climbing trees and stalking prey and cleaning their kills, like they always did. By the time they were headed back into town, she looked like someone who had spent hours hunting in the woods. Her braid was starting to come loose, she had mud on her legs from the river bank, she was covered in sweat and grime, and she had blood caked under her nails. She always looked like this after a hunting trip, it's why she often stopped at home to shower before going to trade her kills. Gale had never commented on her appearance before, he was in the woods all day with her and usually looked much the same as they made their way home. But now he suddenly had a problem with it, because "nobody wants to be seen with their girlfriend looking like that."

At first, she thought he was joking. "Then you should have found yourself a different girlfriend," she joked back, but when he replied she realized he was serious.

"Come on, Catnip, don't be like that," he said. "Is it so bad that I want my girl to look good?" She had quickly changed the subject.

Another troubling incident had come just a week ago. They were planning to go spend some time at the lake, and had popped into the supermarket to pick up some things. She grabbed snacks while he went for drinks, since he was the one with a fake ID. While she waited for Gale at the front of the store, she ran into Peeta Mellark, the baker's son. Mellark's Café and Bakery was one of those old-timey mom-and-pop places that had somehow avoided being driven out of business by a Starbucks or Wonder Bread. She and Peeta Mellark were not friends, not even neighbors, but they had been in the same year in school, and were at least casually aware of one another.

They struck up a conversation. He jokingly chastised her for the mass-produced snack cakes in her basket. She countered that at least she wasn't buying 40 pounds of flour; he explained that they had an unexpectedly large order at the bakery and not enough time to get a bulk shipment form their regular supplier.

"Speaking of which," he said, "do you still sell wild berries?"

At first she was surprised by the question, she didn't realize that Peeta knew about her trading. But she had traded berries to his father before. "Yeah; blueberries, blackberries. Strawberries when we can find some."

"Can you get me some of the blue and blackberries this week? Say by Wednesday?"

Katniss hesitated for just a moment. She hadn't traded at the bakery since the last time she had run into Mrs. Mellark there. But if she was being specifically requested… "Yeah, sure thing. How much do you need?"

Peeta stopped to think before answering. "Say a five-gallon bucket of each?"

That was a lot more than she was expecting. "Wow, you really do have a big order, don't you?"

Peeta smiled at her joke. "I don't know what my dad usually pays you…" he began.

"We usually just trade for some bread," she said.

"Easily accomplished," he said with a smile.

The conversation moved on to what they had each been doing since graduation; he seemed genuinely pleased for her about her job at the Y. "That sounds really awesome," he said, "doing what you love and sharing it with new people."

Peeta was obviously working at his family's bakery. Katniss expressed her surprise that he wasn't at college somewhere; he shook his head. "My mother wanted me to go, but all I've ever wanted to do was take over the bakery. And with my dad cutting down his hours, even she couldn't argue with me staying here."

"Is your dad okay?" she asked.

"His heart's giving him problems," Peeta said. She could see the pain he tried to hide at the subject; she'd seen the look too often in the mirror. "It's not serious yet, but when he had his physical last spring the doctor told him he had to start taking care of himself. And that included not driving himself as hard as he had been and cutting back on the stress of running the business."

"I'm sorry to hear that," she said sincerely. She knew what it felt like to lose a father, after all.

"Thanks," he said.

She saw Peeta's eyes widen just an instant before she felt an arm grabbing her around the waist. She let out an involuntary yelp and spun around to fend off her attacker, only just holding her fist back when she saw it was Gale. "Damn it, Gale!" she fumed. "Why'd you sneak up on me like that!"

"Surprise," he said dryly. Then he pulled her against him and kissed her. She couldn't help but squirm in his embrace; he knew she didn't like kissing in public.

When he released her, he looked up to Peeta, as if just noticing him. He extended his arm that had been wrapped around Katniss, effectively reaching around her to shake Peeta's hand in greeting. "I'm Gale. Her boyfriend."

"Peeta," Peeta replied, giving Gale's hand a brief shake.

"Peeta and I were in the same class in school," Katniss explained.

"School's over," Gale said, not taking his eyes off of Peeta.

"…I think I should go," Peeta said after a tense moment. "I'll see you later in the week?"

Katniss nodded at him. "Wednesday night." He nodded back and made his way to the checkout. Once he was gone, Katniss pulled herself away from Gale and turned to glare at him, only to be met with a glare of his own.

"What the hell was that all about?" she asked.

"Good question," Gale said angrily. "You want to tell me why I'm all alone at the checkout while you're over here flirting with another guy?"

Katniss almost choked. "_Flirting?_ We were just talking! We haven't seen each other in two months, we were just catching up. He was telling me about his sick father, for christ's sake!"

"Is that why you made a date for Wednesday night? What are you his nurse now?"

Katniss clenched her fists in anger, then had to unclench them when she was tempted to swing one. "He's buying berries. As if you never trade at the bakery!"

"Whatever," Gale said, dismissing anything else she had to say. "If you're going to take this relationship seriously, you could at least do me the courtesy of not chatting up other guys right in front of me."

"_You_ were the one who wanted this to be a relationship," she reminded him. "If you want it to last then you need to stop acting like this." She shoved her basket of snacks into his gut, making him reflexively grab it from her. "Have fun at the lake," she spat at him, before storming out of the store.

Of course, it had blown over, like their arguments always did. For as long as they had been friends they had had blow-up fights from time to time. They never really settled things, they just tiptoed around each other for a day or two until they fell back into their old routine. The problem was, what was disrupting their routine was the whole relationship thing, and that wasn't going away.

Then again, maybe it was, Katniss thought. Because today might well be the last straw.

It was Labor Day, the last day before the summer festival folded up for another year, and it was the one day when everyone came out. Katniss always enjoyed the day at the fair; usually she was with Prim, and she spent her day winning one giant stuffed animal after another for her sister. The air rifle, the ring toss, dart board, balloon pop, balls in buckets – you name it, she could ace it. No matter how rigged the games were, legally it had to be possible to win. And if it was possible to win, Katniss had the aim to do it.

But she wasn't doing that this year. Prim was with a group of her own friends, more interested in prizes won for her by Rory Hawthorne than by her big sister. Katniss was spending the day with Gale and a group of his friends. They had all played high school football together, and somehow still stuck together. Some of them weren't so bad, like Finnick. But some of them, like Cato and Gloss, she couldn't stand. To make matters worse, while normally Gale laughed along with her as stunned carnival vendors had to hand over giant prizes, today Gale had begged her not to play any of the games she normally came here for. "Come on, babe, don't show me up in front of the guys," he'd said. "Those games are for kids!" he'd insisted. And to avoid another fight, she'd agreed.

So instead of at least having the small pleasure of beating the rigged games, she had instead spent most of her day as little more than an accessory of Gale's. He seemed to be a lot more grabby today, seemingly making an effort to display their new status to his friends, and she didn't like it. She hadn't said anything to him about it yet because she didn't want to make a scene in public, but the muggy heat and obnoxious comments from Cato were trying her patience.

Ironically, it was Cato who finally said something that caught her interest. "It's almost three," he said. "Time for the pie eating contest."

"Pie eating contest?" Finnick asked.

"Yeah, over on the main pavilion," Cato explained. He began walking that way, and the group followed. "They're taking volunteers this year. And if there's one thing I can do, it's eat."

The whole group teasingly agreed with him, but Katniss was thinking about the pie. Gale kept giving her funny looks whenever she began gravitating to a food stand, so despite being surrounded by carnival food she'd only had one hot dog and a funnel cake all day, and she was starving. "I think I'll do it too," she said.

Gale shot her another look, but it was Gloss who spoke. "Really? You?" he asked, incredulous.

"Yeah. Why not me?" she shot back.

"Well, look at you," Gloss said. "You're a tiny little thing. Could you even eat one whole pie?"

"I can eat more than you." It was true, despite her small body size, Katniss could put away an impressive amount of food. Someone had once teased her that she ate like she never expected to see food again, and she had only barely held in her retort that there was often a serious possibility that she wouldn't. "Go on, tell them, Gale."

Gale shifted nervously. "Um, can I talk to you for a minute?" The two stopped and let the others walk ahead of them. "Are you really going to enter that contest?"

"Yeah, why not? I bet I can win, and if not I at least get to eat some pie."

Gale had that look again, the look she was beginning to recognize usually came before he said something exceptionally stupid about their status as a couple. "Katniss, it really doesn't look good for a girl to gorge herself like that."

"_What?"_ The statement took her so off guard, she had to take a moment before she could form coherent thoughts. "One, why is it okay for Cato and not for me? Two, since when have I cared the least little bit what looks good or not? And three, where the hell did you get the idea that you get to tell me what to do and not do?"

"Come on, Catnip. It's bad enough you've been drooling over every food stand all day. You really think I want everyone to see my girlfriend shoving her face in a pie?"

That was it. That was the last straw. "I have the perfect solution for you, Gale. I won't be your girlfriend anymore."

Now he was starting to get angry. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about this whole relationship thing. You know I was never interested in any of this, I only agreed to try it because I didn't want to lose you as a friend. But I lost you as a friend anyway. What happened to you, Gale? Ever since we became a couple, you've become a giant asshole!"

"Oh yeah? Well you're not exactly prime girlfriend material," he shot back. "You don't care about how you look. I can't do anything for you because you've already done it yourself. You barely let me kiss you, on the rare occasion when I'm able to try you away from Prim long enough to kiss."

"If you have a problem with any of that, then why did you spend four years trying to nag me into dating you?" she said. "It's not like any of that is anything new."

"That's how you acted when we were just friends," he said. "That's not how you're supposed to act when you're somebody's girlfriend."

Katniss took a moment to absorb everything Gale had just told her. "It sounds like we were both pretty stupid," she said. "You were assuming I would change once we started dating, and I was assuming you wouldn't."

Gale seemed more subdued now. "So where does that leave us?"

"Look, this obviously isn't working," Katniss said. "I think it's time to call an end to it."

"I don't want to lose you," Gale said plaintively.

"You should have thought of that before you insisted on dating me," Katniss shot back.

She waited for Gale to respond, but he had nothing left to say. He just turned away, effectively ending the conversation. Katniss took the hint, and left.

When she got to the main pavilion, they were already introducing the contest. Effie Trinket, the lifestyle reporter for the local Fox affiliate, was hosting the event, dressed in a ridiculous lime green skirt suit and with more makeup on her face than Katniss had ever worn in her whole life, combined. Haymitch Abernathy, her boss from the Y who was in charge of organizing the fair every year, was on stage with her, along with Mayor Undersee. Katniss could see four contestants on stage: Gale's friend Cato; Boggs, a local army veteran who worked at the hardware store; Marvel, a lanky guy she vaguely remembered from high school; and, surprisingly, Finnick.

"We have one more spot open," Effie said just as Katniss arrived. "Who else wants to join the fun?"

Katniss shot her hand up in the air. "I volunteer!" she shouted, fighting her way through the crowd. She could see Cato snickering as she walked up on stage.

"Well, bravo! That's the spirit!" Effie gushed. "What's your name?"

"Katniss Everdeen."

"Go ahead and have a seat on the end, dear," Effie said.

Katniss sat on the end next to Finnick. Haymitch tied her hands behind her as Mayor Undersee read the rules.

"We'll have three rounds today, with three pies per round. The first to finish all three pies is the winner, and if no one finishes then the winner is whoever has eaten the most at the end of three minutes, as judged by Mr. Abernathy, Ms. Trinket, and myself. Contestants are not allowed to use their hands, and illness will be grounds for disqualification. Contestants are allowed up to one glass of water between rounds. We'll eliminate the bottom two contestants after round one, and another after round two, and the two remaining contestants will compete for the championship!" The gathered crowd obediently cheered. Katniss nodded slightly to herself. That didn't sound too bad, really.

Effie Trinket took back the microphone from the mayor. "Once again, please everyone thank Peeta Mellark of the Mellark Café and Bakery for providing these wonderful pies for us today." Katniss looked over, and for the first time noticed that Peeta was on the other side of the stage, standing and waving at the crowd. "And remember," Effie continued, "all of you that you can get some pie for yourself at the Mellark Bakery stand just across the courtyard from this stage." That must be what his big order was, Katniss thought. Practically everyone in town was at the fair today; she couldn't imagine how many baked goods the Mellark stand would have gone through.

Katniss had to admit her interest was peaked. She had never had a pie from Mellark's. Growing up, especially after her father died, there was no spare money for decadent desserts. She knew their bread was delicious, but she could only imagine what magic they concocted for dessert.

Several people came over from the Mellark stand carrying pies. They arrayed the pies in front of each contestant, using a small bit of double-sided tape to ensure that the pies wouldn't slide away. "Peeta, darling," Effie said, "please tell us what pies we have for round one?"

Peeta took the mic, and gave the crowd a confident smile. "For round one, we start off with the easy pies. Our contestants have a banana cream pie, a lemon meringue pie, and a pumpkin pie." The crowd oh-ed and ah-ed at the flavors. Katniss could feel herself salivating. "You may begin eating in three, two, one… Go!"

She started with the pumpkin, closing her eyes and slamming her face straight into the pie without hesitation. Flavor exploded on her tongue, pumpkin and nutmeg and cinnamon and ginger, so much more flavor than anything she had gotten before in the "discount – almost expired" aisle of the supermarket. And the texture, rich and creamy and so velvety smooth that she wanted to moan in ecstasy. "Someone's certainly enjoying their pie!" she heard Effie say, alerting her to the fact that she had, in fact, moaned into her pie.

The pie was so exquisite that she almost stopped to savor the flavor, before she remembered why she was there. She began steadily working her way around the pie pan, gobbling up as much pie as she could. The flavor never abated, her last bite was as good as her first, even the crust was amazing, a bit doughy with just enough chew to it, and having absorbed all the delicious flavors of the pie filling.

She took on the banana cream next. It was just as rich and smooth as the pumpkin, but it was a flavor Katniss was more familiar with. _I guess baking skill doesn't affect the flavor of pudding and bananas all that much._ The whipped cream on top, however, was a revelation. It was heavy on her tongue and perfectly sweet, not airy and insubstantial like the whipped cream from a can, and not cloying like the whipped cream from a plastic tub.

Unlike the pumpkin pie, Katniss found that she didn't actually have to _eat_ the cream pie, per se. It went faster when she instead sucked the whipped cream and pudding into her mouth, as if through a straw. She only resorted to using her jaw when she got down to the crust. She carried the technique over to the lemon meringue, thinking she could whip through that one in no time, but again she was unprepared for the intense burst of flavor on her tongue. The tartness of the lemon made her lips pucker, disrupting her inhalation of the pie. It was a welcome change of pace from the intense sweetness of the cream pie, she was glad she had saved this one for last. The meringue was so light and smooth and decadent that she almost felt bad for devouring it so quickly.

Soon enough she was scraping the crust up with her teeth, and then there wasn't anything left she could eat. She lifted her head and called out "Done!"

While she had been eating she had blocked out the noise around her, but now she noticed the crowd cheering, and she heard when Effie Trinket announced, "It looks like Katniss Everdeen is the winner of round one!"

Katniss tried to open her eyes, but her face was covered in a mixture of whipped toppings. She shook her head, trying to shed the gloppy mess before she got any in her eyes, when she felt a hand on her jaw. "Hold still for just a minute," a voice softly asked from just in front of her.

The hand on her jaw turned her head toward where the voice had come from, and then someone was wiping her face with a damp cloth. Their touch was smooth and gentle, softly cleaning whipped cream and lemon curd away from her eyes. When she opened her eyes, she was surprised to find Peeta Mellark staring back at her. "Congratulations," he said after a moment. "That was… impressive."

"Um, thanks," she stammered out.

"Do you want some water?" he offered, holding a glass out to her. She tried to take it, only to be reminded that her hands were tied behind her. She nodded, and he held the glass to her lips, allowing her to take several sips.

"Done" she heard Cato call out at the other end of the table.

"Andrew Cato comes in number two!" Effie announced. "And three… two… one… Time's up! Everybody stop eating!"

The remaining three contestants slowly raised their heads. Attendants came out to help anyone who couldn't see, but Katniss noticed nobody touched the lower half of the contestants' faces. They didn't want to irritate anyone's eyes, but they still wanted a good show for the cameras.

Finnick looked over to Katniss sitting next to him; as he turned his head, a glob of cream fell from his cheek and plopped back into the pie pan. "I feel like I'm decomposing," he quipped.

"Poor Finnick. Is this the first time in your life you haven't looked pretty?" Katniss asked.

Finnick casually licked some pudding from the corner of his lip. "It must be. The sensation's completely new. How have you managed it all these years?" he asked.

"Just avoid mirrors. You'll forget about it," she said.

"Not if I keep looking at you," he said back, before they both broke down laughing.

Marvel had obviously eaten the least, he seemed to have gotten more pie on the table than in his mouth. Finnick and Boggs were close, but Finnick forestalled the judges' decision. "I'm out," he announced. "I can't eat anymore."

The remaining contestants were moved to the center of the table, and attendants brought out more pies. "What do we have for round two?" Effie asked before handing the mic over to Peeta once more.

"For round two we have fruit pies for our hungry contestants," Peeta announced. "Please enjoy our cherry pie, blueberry pie, and blackberry pie. You may begin eating in three, two, one… Go!"

Strategy was more difficult this round; all of the pies had top crusts, making it very difficult to tell the difference between the blueberry and blackberry pies at first glance. Katniss wanted to save the blackberry pie for last, expecting it to be a tart change of pace after the two sweeter pies, much like the lemon from round one. When Peeta said go, she dove into the cherry pie. The first thing she tasted was the crust; it was flaky and buttery and slightly sweet. It was what a pie crust would taste like in heaven. She was pretty sure she moaned again, but she wasn't paying enough attention to the world around her to be sure.

Once she got to the filling, she was surprised how tart it was; she was used to very sweet cherry pies. If the cherry was this tart, what would the blackberry be like? Still, she kept eating. She had eaten enough unpleasant things in her life, she could get through a slightly-more-tart-than-she-expected pie.

She made quick work of the cherry pie, and rather than take the time to try to figure out which was which she just dived into the next one. When she did, she almost choked on the tartness of the blackberry pie. She could taste each berry explode on her palate, the flavor only slightly tempered compared to when she and Gale would eat the berries straight off the bush. This was a pie that wasn't meant to be eaten alone, this pie should be eaten with ice cream, or a dusting of powdered sugar, or at least a sweet drink. This was a flavor that demanded to be consumed slowly and savored, not inhaled and devoured. But Katniss steeled herself and wolfed it down, her whole face puckering with each huge bite.

The blueberry pie was also surprisingly tart, but not as much as the blackberry. Katniss tried a new strategy here, instead of simply devouring the pie from the top down she tried to leave the crust intact, so she could nab a bit of crust with each bite, as an eater would when having a slice of pie the normal way. This helped cut the tart flavor nicely, the buttery crust perfectly complementing gooey blueberry filling. "Done!" she called out as she lifted her face out of her third and final pie.

"And Katniss Everdeen wins round two!" Effie announced. Peeta appeared once again to wipe fruit and crumbs away from her eyes, and offer her some water. This time she needed the whole glass; the tart flavors had overloaded her tongue, and the gooey fruit filling coated her mouth in stickiness in a way that the pudding and cream hadn't. Meanwhile, Effie announced the end of round two before either of the other competitors finished their third pie.

Katniss finished her water, and looked over to Peeta. His face appeared to be flushed, and his deep blue eyes were boring into her with an intensity she found surprising. What was going on behind those eyes? "So, what's your deal?" she asked. "Are you just stuck at my end of the table, or is this like a perk for the winner of each round?"

Peeta blushed heavily, and stammered a bit before he could respond. "Well, if you consider getting a drink from me to be a perk."

Maybe it was because this was the longest conversation they'd ever had, maybe it was because Gale had put the idea in her head, but she found herself really looking at Peeta. She'd known him – well, she'd known _of_ him – throughout their schooling, but so many of his features had only begun to grow in recently. His broad shoulders and strong jawline looked so much different now than even at their graduation. His blond hair fell in waves over his forehead, messy from how often he had brushed it back away from his face. His blue eyes seemed to be boring into her, and she found herself wanting to know why.

"Maybe I do," she said softly. His eyes widened for just a moment before Effie was calling him over to announce round three.

The judges decided that Cato ate more than Boggs in round two, so it would be him and Katniss head to head in round three.

"You ready to go down, little girl?" Cato asked as the final pies were placed in front of them.

"I already beat you in round one and two, what makes you think I won't do it again in round three?" she taunted back.

One last time, Effie asked Peeta to introduce the pies. "Well Effie," he said easily into the mic, "for round three we have a pecan pie, a shoofly pie, and of course, we couldn't end this competition without an all-American apple pie." Again, the crowd obediently cheered the pies.

Katniss wasn't familiar with pecan or shoofly pies, but they both looked heavy and rich. They would be hard to get down, especially with the six pies she'd already downed in the last ten minutes rumbling about in her stomach.

"Contestants," Peeta announced for the last time, "you may begin eating in three, two, one… Go!"

Katniss went straight for the shoofly pie, and almost immediately regretted it. _This_ was the sickly sweet pie she'd been expecting all day. It was thick, and dense, and it tasted like pure concentrated sugar syrup, with just a hint of a roasted, nutty flavor. It made her whole mouth feel sticky. After only a handful of bites, she abandoned the shoofly, and went instead for the apple.

The apple was a welcome relief. The flaky crust helped clear some of the stickiness from her mouth; the apples still had some texture to them, but not so much that she had to spend a lot of time chewing them; and the cinnamon and nutmeg gave her something to taste other than sweet.

An idea occurred to her, and she quickly abandoned the apple pie and returned to the shoofly. Now that her palate had been cleansed a bit, she ate another handful of bites of the shoofly pie. She knew she was losing time, but she continued to alternate this way between the pies, using the apple pie to cut the richness of the shoofly pie.

Finally she finished the shoofly, and had very little of the apple left. She quickly dove into the pecan pie. She'd never had a pecan pie, and she found that she quite liked it. The buttery, nutty flavor, with just enough sweetness, was incredible. However, it was proving to be an impediment to her at the moment, as the pecans took time to chew and swallow, and in her haste to ingest it all as quickly as possible, the jagged crumbles of the nuts left innumerable tiny scratches all over her mouth and throat. And while she was adjusting to all of this, precious time was rapidly ticking away.

She continued to work away at the pecan pie for what felt like a long time, until finally she heard Effie Trinket announcing, "Ten seconds left! Everybody count it down with me!" As Effie and the crowd counted down the end of the competition, Katniss remembered her unfinished apple pie. She abandoned the pecan and furiously attacked the apple pie, inhaling the final bite just as Effie called time.

Katniss sat back in her chair, but had to take a moment to chew and swallow her last bite of apple pie before she could take a deep breath. By then Peeta was there, again wiping crumbs from her eyes and now cleaning the rest of her face. She didn't think it was strictly necessary anymore, with the contest over she could clean her own face once they untied her hands, but for some reason she didn't want him to stop.

The judges seemed to be having trouble making a decision. Katniss looked over at Cato's plates; he had finished the pecan and shoofly, and most of the apple. Comparing to her own plates, which were devoid of apple and shoofly and most of the pecan, Katniss herself couldn't tell who had eaten more at first glance.

But then, she looked at Cato. He looked positively green. No one had untied them yet, so he couldn't go anywhere. Just as she was about to call out a warning, Peeta darted behind her and pulled her chair back a few feet away from Cato, who promptly barfed up his nine pies all over Effie Trinket's bright green suit.

The crowd gasped. Effie seemed to be choking. Then Haymitch's loud guffaw broke out in the stunned silence. "Well, I'd say that settles it," he said. "Sweetheart here wins!"

The crowd cheered. Peeta untied her hands, and she stood. As she waved to acknowledge the crowd, her eyes landed on Gale near the back. For a moment they just looked at each other. Then she saw a small, sad smile grow on his faced, and he lifted his hands and clapped for her. And in that moment, a weight she had been dutifully ignoring was lifted off her shoulders. She now knew that they'd be okay. They'd both be hurt for a while, and maybe they wouldn't ever fully regain the easy companionship they had shared before this whole dating fiasco. But one day they'd hunt together again, and sell their catches together again, and laugh and joke together again, and they'd be okay.

After a minute or two, the mayor came over to shake her hand, and Haymitch gave her a small trophy and the one hundred dollar prize. "Don't spend it all in one place, sweetheart," he said, then sauntered off the stage, probably to find a drink.

"We have a sink over at the Mellark stand," Peeta said as the crowd began to disperse. "You can wash your face, if you want."

"Yeah, sure," she said. They quickly made their way across the grassy field. "Thanks for cleaning me up. I must have looked pretty bad, with bits of nine pies all over my face."

"I don't know, I think you looked fine," Peeta said. But then his face fell, and he looked away. "I'm sorry. I probably shouldn't have said that."

"Why not?" she asked.

"Your boyfriend," he said. "Given the way he reacted last week, I'm kind of surprised he hasn't kicked my ass already for cleaning your face."

Katniss considered her situation. Was this something she was interested in? She just got out of a relationship, if you could even call it that. Would it be too self indulgent to immediately jump into another one?

She stopped him once they were out of sight behind his booth. "Tell me something, Peeta. What did you think about me shoving my whole face into one of your pies?"

Peeta stumbled when he heard her question. "You're serious?"

Katniss shrugged. "Yeah. I want a second opinion."

Peeta took a deep breath. "Whew. Okay. Well. I'm just going to be honest here, okay? Feel free to slap me if you want." Katniss nodded. "Honestly, I thought it was so freaking hot. The way you just went after it like that, no hesitation, just attacking those pies. It was one of the sexiest things I've ever seen."

"You don't think I looked bad, gorging myself like that?" she asked.

He scoffed as if she had offended him. "Katniss, I'm a baker. Do you know how many no-carbs people I have to deal with? I don't trust people who don't eat."

Katniss took a moment to absorb his answer. Then she stepped forward to close the distance between them. "Peeta, do you mind if I try something?"

"Um, sure," he answered, clearly confused. "What do you want to try?"

Instead of answering, she grabbed his face in both hands, and brought their lips together.

After just a moment, Peeta retuned the kiss. She could feel his arms wrap around her, pulling her closer. She must have kissed Gale a hundred times, but this was the first kiss that made her feel something. Something warm and curious stirring inside her chest; desire pooling in her gut. This was the first kiss that made her want another. But she didn't get it, not just then. Instead, Peeta's tongue darted out and licked some pie residue from her lips. "Mmm. Delicious," he said.

Slowly, she became aware that he was still holding her with both arms. Somehow, it didn't feel uncomfortable. So far the day had only improved every time she went after what she wanted, so she decided to go for broke. "I've already had dessert, but I could use some dinner. Care to join me?"

Peeta smiled the widest smile she'd seen on him yet. "I'd love to," he said. "Do you want to go find a real restaurant, or stick around here for corn dogs and fried dough?"

She didn't even have to think about her answer. "Definitely the fried dough."

"Good. I was hoping you'd say that." Then his expression faltered. "But, um, what about your boyfriend?"

Katniss sighed. "That's kind of a long story. But the position's open at the moment."

"Oh really?" he asked, a glint in his eye.

"Yeah," she said with a smile. "We can talk about it over a corndog, if you want."

Peeta grinned back at her. "I definitely want." He let his arms drop, but took her hand and entwined their fingers as he began walking. "My friend Jo is selling jalapeño corn dogs with a sweet peppercorn ranch sauce. You have to try one if you haven't already."

Katniss let him lead her across the fairground. Ordinarily she hated any kind of public displays, but as she looked down at their joined hands, she decided she didn't want to let go.


End file.
